Living as a Muslim in the modern world.

ISIS Orders It’s Followers to Target and Kill American Muslim Leaders

The New York Post just recently published an article titled, Isis Puts Hit Out on Huma in reference to Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s top aide. The article says that ISIS put out a hit list for American Muslims whom they consider moderates that do not adhere to their Khawarij or extremist ideology and is friendly with the West.

The article also said that American Congressman Keith Ellison, the first and one of only two American Muslims in Congress was named on the list. There were some British Muslims named as well.

Since I write about contemporary Islamic issues, and I have been very vocal against ISIS, not only in the USA but in Tunisia, I was curious to see if I was on the list. Also while in Tunisia, I had to leave for my safety because ISIS was planning to target Westerners. I had also confrontations with ISIS supporters in Tunisia on multiple occasions. I really despise these people for perverting and twisting Islam in order to obtain their socio-political goals.

In the New York Post article, it said that there was a hit list in ISIS’s English language magazine called Dabiq. I wanted to know if I was on this hit list. Even though it could cause me to be pinged by the alphabet soup groups, I googled this magazine. I found the magazines on an academic website that says that they do not support or condone this group, but instead wants to educate the public on what this group is spreading in their propaganda. I clicked on their latest issue.

The issue that I clicked on was the most disturbing thing I have ever read in my life. Honestly if I was not a Muslim, and I did not know about Islam, I would be scared of Muslims and horrified of the thought of them living in my neighborhood. I can really understand why people are scared of Muslims because of what this group says.

I did not come across the hit list, however, I came across something just as if not more disturbing. This article was titled, “Kill the Imams of Kufr in the West”. This is very disturbing. The word Imam is our leaders. They lead the prayers in the mosques and give the khutbas or Friday sermons. The word Kufr is from Kafiroon or Kafir, it means to cover to hide. Like a farmer covers his seeds with dirt. It essentially means to cover the truth.

So from this title it is obvious that they are ordering their followers to kill Western, mostly American, religious leaders. Some of these leaders are world famous, amongst the 500 most influential Muslims in the world.

They used such weak arguments and twisted the Qur’an teachings in such a way that I am surprised that anyone with critical thinking skills can believe this. They said that if anyone apostates from the religion, it is a cause to have them killed. They used the word rhiddah for Apostate, and the word Murtaddin for the ones who apostate. They are not even saying that these people left Islam, they are saying that if they do not agree with them, and believe to join them in their crazy Jihad, then they are Murtaddin and should be killed. They believe that a Martaddin is worse than a Kafir, (disbeliever).

They used examples, but in every example, if someone was killed it was for being a spy. There were people during the time of the Prophet who would say that they were Muslim but were not and they did it to create problems with the Muslims or to get close to them to assassinate them. So when the Qur’an is referring to killing apostates it is referring to this? How can someone return to Islam if you kill them?

They also called any Muslim that moved to the USA a Murtaddin also. ISIS’s rationale is that they only care about this life, or Dunya, and not Allah and the hereafter. They are looking for any excuse to have Muslims scared of them and would be afraid to speak out against them because of reprisal. They are trying to use this list to terrorize Western Muslims.

In their article they attack whom they call the Suffiyas, or Sufis, and then they also attacked the Salafis. ISIS claims that they are creating division in Islam making Muslims not like each other, yet they are calling for the murder of Muslims. They know that the real Muslims refer to them as Khawarij, and they take pride in this.

The very first person that they targeted is my Shaykh (teacher), the person that I have learned the most about Islam from, Hamza Yusuf. They say because he is an eloquent speaker that he uses sorcery, so he is not a Muslim.

They then name Imam Suhaib Webb. He is also a personal friend of mine, and gave me one of my prayer rugs. About him they state that he supports the US Constitution, will not speak out against Gay marriage, and that he said he is proud of Obama who is not a Muslim leader, that he should be killed.

Then they name Muhammad al-Yaqoubbi, he is a Syrian Scholar from a family of Scholars that goes all the way back to the Prophet Muhammad. Every male descended all the way to the Prophet in his family is an Islamic scholar. His family is the head of the Grand Ummayad Mosque in Damascus. He frequently teaches at Zaytuna College which is owned by Hamza Yusuf. He was on CNN and said,”We do not care about Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (The leader of ISIS), he is going to Hell. If anyone joins ISIS, they are not Muslim, they will go to Hell”. I know him personally as well.

Imam Kabbani, the founder of the Naqshbandis in America was named. They are a Sufi order that claims lineage to Abu Bakr, the first Muslim Caliph after Prophet Muhammad’s death.

There was a photo of Imam Bilal Phillips, a very well-known Salafi scholar that runs an Islamic online university.

This article told their followers to make examples of these, or any Western Muslim that speaks out against ISIS.

Upon first reading this article, it impressed upon me that that writers were professionals in propaganda. That they wrote this to make anyone who stumbled upon it to hate Islam. Then it dawned on me, what if someone really buys into this garbage? It should be exposed for what it is, an article that twists what Islam is in order to help a certain small group of people to obtain their political goals.

I never want to hear anyone say that Muslims do not speak out against ISIS. We do and the media never covers it and yet we are being threatened for it. American Muslims are on the side with our fellow Americans in the fight against these ISIS terrorists. We must work together in order to stay safe in our homeland. United we stand, divided we fall.

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What is Islam?

The word "Islam" means peace and submission. Peace means to be at peace with yourself and your surroundings and submission means submission to the will of God. A broader meaning of the word "Islam" is to achieve peace by submitting to the will of God.
This is a unique religion with a name which signifies a moral attitude and a way of life. Judaism takes its name from the tribe of Juda, Christianity from Jesus Christ, Buddhism from Goutam Buddha and Hinduism from Indus River. However, Muslims derive their identity from the message of Islam, rather than the person of Muhammed (P), thus should not be called "Muhammadans".